On March 23rd, I was traveling near Detroit, Michigan. I decided to take a quick stop at the Henry Ford Museum of American Innovation. I figured it would be mostly cars on display that Henry Ford created during his time as the country’s premier automobile manufacturer. That was true, but it also has so much more to offer. I have been to a number of museums and the Henry Ford museum stands out as among the best.
Here are 10 things that make this museum well worth the visit.:
It has the limousine that President John F. Kennedy was assassinated in: It is on display near the front entrance. They out the top on, but it is the car he was traveling in during that fateful Dallas ride in 1963 when Lee Harvey Oswald shot him and killed him. I did not expect that limo to be in the museum.
It has the Presidential limousines dating back to Franklin Roosevelt: The had every Presidential limo starting with FDR up to Ronald Reagan. You can also see how limos evolved during that time.
It had the bus that Rosa Parks refused to stand up for a white man that was one of the catalysts to the Civil Rights Movement: That is right. The actual Montgomery bus is on display in the museum. You can also go inside and sit in the bus. Rosa Parks refused to stand up when a white man wanted to sit in her seat. Three Black men had already moved, but it was Rosa that said no. This is known as one of catalysts of the Civil Rights Movement.
All the cars Henry Ford created on are display: Henry Ford created a number of cars, but his most successful is the Model T, which displays prominently in the museum. However, before that he invented many more less famous ones. They are all on display.
It had Thomas Jefferson’s writing board that he supposedly wrote the Declaration of Independence on: This was another surprising feature of the museum. They had a whole section on early America that had artifacts from Jefferson that included his famous writing board.
It had a cot used by George Washington when he toured battlefields: On display was the famous cot that General George Washington used as he toured battlefields in the northern states.
It had a Generation X display: As a younger Generation X (had to add younger-smile), I was shocked they had a full display of a girl’s bedroom that represented the Generation X time period. It would not be complete with the Depeche Mode poster.
It had a Civil Rights display: They had a Civil Rights display near the Rosa Parks bus that depicted the horrors the KKK did on religious and racial minorities. They also show what a white vs. black bus waiting room looked like during the Jim Crow era.
It had a car racing display: As some that loves car racing, I loved the display of the old race cars. They had cars going back to the 1930s.
It has the actual chair Abraham Lincoln was killed in: This is by far was what shocked me the most about his particular museum. They had the chair Abraham Lincoln was killed in at Ford Theater that fateful evening in 1865. There are rumors that the blood of Lincoln is on that chair. However, that is false. The fabric has fated, so rumors spread.
